West Orange Teachers Boycott Back To School Night

Editor's Note: This article has been updated with a statement from the West Orange Board of Education. WEST ORANGE, NJ — The morale of the teachers in the West Orange Public School District is “at an all-time low,” and that’s why they won’t be showing up at this year’s Back to School Night, union representatives say.

When parents and guardians in the district pile into Kelly Elementary for the kickoff of the 2016-17 Back to School Nights on Monday evening, they may notice some key stakeholders missing…their children’s teachers. That’s because the West Orange Education Association (WOEA) — which also represents the district’s paraprofessionals, administrative assistants, computer technicians and security officers — has announced that its members will not be volunteering at the annual event this year unless their working conditions improve.

Citing reasons such as a “finger-pointing” mentality among administrators, a lack of hiring from within and stagnating contract negotiations that have been lingering for more than a year, WOEA members recently issued a joint statement explaining their decision. The statement can be seen in its entirety here.

WOEA members pointed out that teachers’ attendance at the annual Back to School Night is not a contractual obligation and is strictly voluntary.

“[Back to School Night] represents our membership deciding, year after year, to volunteer to give up a night at home with family or watching the game, to come to work – unpaid – in order to allow the parents a glimpse of the classrooms, the staff and a hint of what the year will bring,” the WOEA stated. “It gives us a chance to meet and greet our most essential partners in education. We are true partners of the parents in raising our students and we fully support them.”

But there comes a point when you have to make a stand, the union members said.

“As public employees, we do not have many forceful ways to raise awareness of the situations and to bring matters to something of a head,” the statement reads. “We cannot strike and cannot engage in serious job actions without either disrupting the educational process — which we will never do — or putting jobs at risk. We certainly will not be discussing this struggle with your students, as that would place them unfairly in an adult problem… What we can do is not volunteer.”

According to the employees’ statement:

“The membership in every building has in the past few days decided that tenured staff will not be volunteering this year unless and until serious progress has been made towards a settlement and towards the restoration of a respectful working atmosphere… We apologize for any inconvenience this causes, as we are as unhappy about this decision as you may be. We want to see you and strengthen our bonds. We support our students and their parents and we ask, at this crucial time, that you support us.”

The WOEA members added that they are not “refusing” to hold a Back to School Night and hope that one can be scheduled in the future.

After Monday’s event at Kelly Elementary, the following Back to School Nights were planned as of Aug. 24:

• Wed, 9/14: Edison Middle at 7 p.m.
• Thu, 9/15: Roosevelt Middle at 6:30 p.m., and Liberty Middle at 6:30 p.m.
• Thu, 9/22: WOHS at 6:30 p.m.
• Thu, 9/29: All elementary schools at 6:30 p.m. (except Kelly)

CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS

A key factor in the WOEA’s decision to boycott Back to School Night is the ongoing negotiations with the board of education that have left West Orange’s educational staff working without a contact for more than a year, union representatives stated.

“For several years now, many of our members have seen their net pay decrease year-by-year,” the WOEA statement reads. “While there have been nominal raises, the enormous sums deducted for healthcare and for pensions has made many of our members see ‘negative raises’ as the years have gone by. This year will be no different. When the first paychecks are distributed this week, many will have seen their take home decrease for the third or fourth year in a row… Adding to the anxiety and concern is the fact that we are at impasse in negotiations, and, without divulging details of the process, the only firm offer the BOE has made is one in which the overall package would again result in negative compensation.”

According to WOEA President Mark Maniscalco, the union’s previous agreement ran from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2015.

Maniscalco told Patch that “the impact of Chapter 78, which directed, without negotiation, that our members refund to the BOE a sliding percentage of their insurance costs,” resulted in a “non-negotiated windfall for the board” while also resulting in a net pay decrease for many educators.

“In addition, because the state has not made its proper contributions to the pension system for years, the percentage that our members must pay has increased, with the same impact on take home pay,” Maniscalco said, adding that union members have not seen an increase in their gross pay since September of 2015.

However, the West Orange Board of Education members sent Patch a statement in opposition to many of the union's allegations.

"The West Orange Board of Education has been engaged in negotiations with the West Orange Education Association for a successor collective negotiations agreement since May 7, 2015," read the board members' statement. "The parties have reached tentative agreements on several issues. Unfortunately, the Association cancelled six (6) sessions on July 30, 2015, November 11, 2015, November 24, 2015, January 28, 2016, February 1, 2016, and June 1, 2016. Further, the Association also informed the Board that they were not available for the month of August 2015, due to their negotiator's vacation schedule. While the Association claims that the Board refused to meet this summer, dates were provided by the Mediator to both parties which were ultimately rejected due to conflicts in scheduling by both parties."

Board members continued:

"While the Board was interested in continuing face-to-face negotiations, the Association declared impasse on May 26, 2016. Therefore, a mediator was appointed by the Public Employment Relations Commission, with whom we met on Tuesday, September 6, and presented the most recent contract proposal to the Association to which the Association has not responded."

BOE members stated:

"The West Orange Board of Education remains hopeful that the parties will negotiate in good faith and finds it unfortunate that the Association is criticizing the West Orange Board of Education for the employees’ state-mandated statutory requirement that requires contributions toward health benefit premiums for all public employees."

BOE members concluded their statement with a suggestion for the WOEA union members.

"Accordingly, the West Orange Board of Education strongly encourages the members of the Association to contact their leadership for specific details on negotiations to date and the recent contract proposal from the Board."

INTERNAL HIRING

Another of the union’s issues is a lack of hiring from within, representatives claim.

“In the past few years, the BOE has filled many administrative positions, but although each and every position attracted qualified, capable, talented internal candidates, in almost no case was a West Orange professional appointed,” union members claim.

“This sends a clear message that our current, long-serving, experienced, well-reviewed and rated professionals do not have the respect of those filling these positions,” WOEA members said. “It was not always this way. As recently as a few years ago, many, if not most, of our promotions went to internal candidates who were known, whose skill sets were proven, whose connections to the community were unshakable, and whose knowledge of our schools, our students, our parents and our personnel made them uniquely qualified to step in, step up and lead.”

Union members added that they didn’t mean to disparage their new colleagues, who are “fine professionals and solid people.”

West Orange Board of Education members called the union's allegations misleading.

"The Association’s allegation that the Board has failed to promote and hire internally is completely inaccurate," board members stated. "In fact, the West Orange Board of Education has promoted district employees multiple times during the last three years, including two Assistant Principals at Liberty and Roosevelt Middle Schools, and supervisors in Social Studies, Science, World Language/English as a Second Language, and Technology Education. Additionally, numerous district paraprofessionals and substitutes, many who are West Orange residents, have been hired as permanent teachers."

THE ‘GOTCHA’ MENTALITY

In their statement, West Orange educators and staff said that their morale is “at an all-time low.”

The statement reads:

“Many teachers report feeling disrespected by top administration, with their work not being appreciated, their voices not being counted, their years of experience and training being disregarded. In the past few years, they have gone from feeling fully supported and encouraged to do their professional and personal bests, taking healthy risks to further the realities of what our children can achieve, to existing in a workplace where there is little support, where pointing fingers are around every corner, and where a ‘gotcha’ mentality is the rule of the day. We have gone from being a district whose employees actively promoted the possibility of employment in WO to our friends and family members in education to one where we often advise those people to look elsewhere, and where many of our members are themselves looking to leave. This is sad.”

However, West Orange Board of Education members had this to say:

"The Board is deeply disturbed that the Association has violated a long-standing practice of attending Back to School Nights. However, all Back to School Nights will occur as scheduled. The hope is that the Association will reconsider their decision so all tenured teachers attend Back to School Nights as this is one of the most important parent/teacher/student partnership nights."

Photo: West Orange Public Schools, Facebook

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